Instructors

Description

This seminar aims to trace the interactions between quantum field/string theory and
geometry/topology that have taken place over the past 25 years on the backbone
of supersymmetry and its cohomological features. In the
Winter, we studied
Witten's papers on supersymmetric quantum mechanics that started the whole story in
the early 1980's. This term, we will venture into the realm of higher-(but mostly two-)dimensional
quantum field theories. We will endeavour to study both their dynamics and their
applications to geometry.

Prerequisites: The seminar is aimed at Masters students and advanced
Bachelor students of mathematics and physics, and is accessible with a good knowledge
of undergraduate quantum mechanics of finite-dimensional systems and basic notions
of differential geometry. Textbook knowledge of quantum field theory is not a prerequisite,
as QFT plays a somewhat different role in our story than in standard physics applications.
The material from the Winter is available here, and will also be
reviewed at the beginning of the semester. We welcome new participants!